It’s Time to Ditch Your Plastic Wrap — Here’s Why

There’s no doubt that plastic wrap — also known as Cling Wrap or Saran Wrap — is convenient. However, it’s super hard to reuse and impossible to recycle because it’s a complex plastic made with chemicals that are difficult to remove during the recycling process. So instead of trying to clean it or dry it, toss it in your trash.

But this also means that every time you use plastic wrap, you’re creating a piece of waste that will outlive us several times over. In fact, we don’t have proof that plastic will ever truly biodegrade. Rather, it will simply accumulate in our environment over time.

However, a bunch of plastic waste in a faraway future isn’t the only thing that’s concerning about plastic wrap. Plastic wrap may also be made from plastic #3, PVC, which contains materials that have been associated with serious health risks such as cancer and hormonal disorders.

So what can you use instead of plastic wrap? Reusable food containers, jars, beeswax wrap, silicone pouches and silicone stretch lids will all do the trick. It’s worth it to wash and reuse an item when it means you can keep harmful, non-recyclable materials out of the landfill.

If you can’t quite give up the plastic wrap habit, don’t let it touch food directly, or go into the microwave, where it is most likely to leach chemicals into your food.